"Maria Teacher"

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry I haven't been very good about keeping this blog up. So much has been going on these last few weeks, it's been a little challenging to maintain it. That being said, it occurred to me that I haven't written anything about the reason I'm here: to teach English!

So, a short (or rather as short as I can possibly make it) message about the school where I teach and the children in it.

I teach from 11:30-7:20 (not including lesson planning and grading!=) Mon.-Fri. (thank God no Saturdays!) The day begins with two kindergarten classes, with a lunch break in between. Lunch deserves it's own blog because most of the time I don't know what I'm eating, and it's always fun to see little kids gobble up dried squid and kimchi and octopus soup like it's no big thing. So that'll be the next blog maybe.

In Korea parents choose to send their children to an English-speaking or a Korean-speaking kindergarten. SLP (Sogang Language Program) runs an English-speaking one. Once a week we do science "experiments" with the kids. Once a week we do art class. The rest of the time it's fun workbooks with lots of coloring pages and stickers, from which I would love to learn Korean, but alas, they have things like conversation practice for adults who want to learn a foreign language-blast!

My kindergarteners are amazingly adorable. They call me (sometimes with a whiny voice), "Maria Teacher." I love it! There are already tons of fun stories, so I'll save those for their own blog. That way you can get to know each one.

After kindergarten comes my "real job." As part of an after school program, I teach students of all ages (from 5-13)* and all levels (from "a is for apple" to full-on essay and journal writing in English). Once again, these classes are much more interesting with personal stories about the crazy things the kids do, so I'll save that for later. But for now, just know that I love being a teacher. I even like the grading (thus far...) and I am taking notes. So far, I enjoy kids, but you really don't teach until the kids are older. Until then it's a cross between babysitting and charades. =)

The school is a clean, safe, and new environment for them to learn. A little on the sterile side, I will admit, but it's beginning to feel like home, which is a comfort. I mostly just love being surrounded by children's books all day. I'll share tons more as the year goes on, but here's a start. Thanks for reading=)

*PS: just a note about Korean age calculations. They add 1 to 2 years to Western age for the time in the womb (I think), so I really have no idea how old the kids are. For the kindergarteners I just calculate based on how many teeth they are missing. For the older kids, it's a bit more difficult....
PPS: sorry about the lack of photos on the blog! I'm still trying to figure that all out, but photos there will be!